The installation of lawn sprinkler systems requires several steps. A plastic pipe is cut. Various fittings such as a right angle are tapped into the pipes, metal pinch clamps are fastened around joints, screw clamps are fastened around joints, and holes are punched into drip tubing elements. Presently several hand tools are used to accomplish these tasks. A brief summary of relevant art follows below.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,881 (1974) to Strybel discloses a metal tube specialized cutter with a cutting wheel.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,928 (1982) to Mlikotin discloses a multi-purpose copper tube cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,577 (1983) to Babb discloses a one-purpose plastic pipe cutter with a blade and a ratchet type handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,521,963 (1985) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,587,732 (1986) to Lind et al. discloses a crimping feature on a piston driven pipe cable cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,611,358 (1986) to Mills et al. discloses a copper tube wheel type cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,084 (1987) to Wood discloses a wire/cable cutter and crimper with two elongate handle members.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,456 (1992) to Jansen discloses a banding tool.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,129,158 (1992) to Campagna discloses a plastic pipe guillotine cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,750 (1999) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,154,964 to Tally discloses a tube cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,780 (2002) to Robertson et al. discloses a leaf spring improvement to the handles of a plastic pipe cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,487,776 (2002) and U.S. Pat. No. 2002/0148118 (2002) to Chang disclose a lower arm with a cradle for plastic pipe and an upper arm with a replaceable blade. A pivot at a distal end holds the arms together.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,553,670 (2003) and U.S. Pat. No. 2002/0083593 (2002) to Chang disclose a caulk gun style trigger handle for a cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,658,738 (2003) to King discloses an adjustable jaw for cutting plastic pipes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,752,054 (2004) to Knight discloses a sheet metal cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,766,581 (2004) and U.S. Pat. No. 2002/0170182 to Nordlin disclose a cable cutter/crimper with a ratchet closure means.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,181 (2004) to Scheuerman et al. discloses a crimped ring remover.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 412,095 (1999) to Tally disclose a right angle blade on a cutter.
U.S. Pat. No. D453,287 (2002) to Picaza discloses a fixed blade pincer type cutter.
What is needed is a multi-purpose hand tool to cut, tap, crimp, screw, and hole punch elements in a plastic pipe system. The present invention provides all these functions and offers a replaceable blade.